So was the dress red or purple?

October 7, 2000 8:32 AM

So was the dress red or purple? - And was Frances Bean dressed in black or Blue? An AP photo and Reuters photo taken at the same moment, less than two or three feet apart - yet so blatantly different. Don't trust everything you see, indeed. (and don't ask how I stumbled onto this page).
posted by kokogiak (10 comments total)

It looks like the blue/fuschia dress picture was simply "brightened up" a bit; probably to get more facial details and less shadow.

I'm struck by how much Frances Bean looks like daddy... :: sad sigh ::

posted by metrocake at 9:41 AM on October 7, 2000

I was about to say the same thing, Metrocake.
posted by rcade at 9:49 AM on October 7, 2000

That makes three of us, on both counts.
posted by highindustrial at 10:23 AM on October 7, 2000

I'm struck by how much Courtney looks like death. She does not look well.
posted by thirteen at 10:53 AM on October 7, 2000

Has she EVER looked well?
posted by Optamystic at 3:40 PM on October 7, 2000

Anyone who's used camera filters and flashes knows what happened. The first photo was lit by a flash, and the color wasn't adjusted for the UV light the flash uses. The bottom photo didn't use a flash, the camera used the available light. (Incandescant.) UV gives off a bluish tint if not adjusted and Incan. gives off a yellow/orange tint if not adjusted with an on camera filter or on the computer.
posted by thirdball at 4:00 PM on October 7, 2000

Good call, thirdball. Definately a flash vs. non flash picture. I'm surprised the color shift is so pronounced though; I've never had flash photos give me different hues, only different values.
posted by Mr. skullhead at 8:16 PM on October 8, 2000

Well, it's worth remembering that press photos are often delivered to agencies in a hurry: if using conventional film (as is typical) they're often processed in hotel bathrooms, scanned in haste and sent digitally to the bureau. Plenty of room for deviation, though this is quite an extreme case.
posted by holgate at 9:15 PM on October 8, 2000

Thirdball missed yet another point: if one of the cameras was digital, they don't necessarily have the same color response curve that film has.

When I use my digital camera to photograph my blue car, it comes out looking green, and that's in broad daylight. Admittedly it's a shitty camera.
posted by Steven Den Beste at 9:32 PM on October 8, 2000

It's almost eeire how much she looks like her father....
posted by Satapher at 9:18 AM on October 9, 2000